Who gets more mysterious by the moment.

This chapter will be even more on the nose for plagiarism, but it will completely become its own story once we leave the park.

"Young man, you don’t look like someone who just saved a life. In fact, you look like someone who’s got the weight of the entire world on their shoulders.” The kindly old man said as he took off his hat.

“Well, he’s not saved yet. Not to mention I was so rattled I wonder if I even performed the CPR properly” The adrenaline is coming down, I was starting to feel the fall from earlier make my head throb.

“Yes, that was quite admirable, but I was referring to the attractive young lady whom you saved from the golf cart. She was lucky you were there.” So he noticed.

“I don’t suppose you could stay with me for a little bit, sir? She said she was going to bring a cop back here to arrest me for tackling and fondling her.” I hope I sounded **** enough. This old guy seemed like a class act, so I thought if I just bore it straight to him he would agree. He chuckled softly and nodded in approval.

“Quite the morning you’ve had, haven’t you? What does the rest of your day look like?” he asked as if I were an old acquaintance. I sighed and pulled out my phone. It was simultaneously a means to check the time and compose my thoughts before replying.

“Well, I still have some time before my class starts. It’s my easy class and she's the professor I like most, but it’s also awkward for me because a girl that rejected me is there, too. Along with her… girlfriend. I didn’t know at the time.” He chuckled again, seemingly in pity. "Then later today I have my tough class which is known for having an absurd failure rate, and my professor is the exact opposite of the other. She’s a hardass and has no sympathy whatsoever. After that I have to go beg my dorm mother not to kick me out. She’s the same age as I am, but is really bossy and thinks I smoked in the dorm.”

“Did you?” he asked snidely. The EMTs were finishing the job over by the golf cart.

“No, actually. I tried it once at a friend’s house but really it just made me hungry. I worked hard to lose my weight, I don’t need the munchies.” I shrugged. “And this is all assuming that I’m not about to get arrested.”

“It sounds like you’re having a problem with the women in your life.” he replied flatly.

“I-” I stopped. He was right. Almost all of my predicaments, individually minor as they were, were caused by women and added up to a big woman problem overall. “I suppose I do.

“So, what could improve your day, young man? What would fix your life?” The aged man next to me asked.

“Man, I don’t know… A girlfriend? A way to get along with the women in my life without worrying too much about it?” I laugh. “Does that sound too pathetic?”

A wide smile cracks across my neighbor’s face. “ Not in the least. I think I can help you with your problem. You remind me a lot of a young man named Jack I met years ago. He was in a similar situation, now he runs...he runs a large business out of Las Vegas. How much money do you have on you?”

“Uhh…. Oh.” I replied, initially taken aback by the strange question. “I don’t have any cash on me, but I was going to drop by the bank eventually.” I opened my backpack and took out a ratty old plastic bag from the bottom. “A few friends of mine were playing poker the other night using old dollar coins for chips. I have… about a hundred here? A little more I think.”

“Coins? Perfect. Dump them into my hat.” Loathe as I am to give up around $100, this guy has been a kind ear thus far. So I agree, more curious than afraid of the con. “Have you ever heard the expression, ‘Coin of the Realm,’ young man? Well these coins are now the coin of YOUR realm. Give one of them to any woman and you will find them much more willing to get along and join your team, so to speak.” What?

I begin bagging my coins again, noticing they’re a bit… cleaner than before? They almost look like they’re shining. As I’m about to ask my companion what he’s talking about, he continues on:

“Just make sure you don’t actually exchange them at the bank. They’ll only work on the first woman to touch them, and each woman can only be impacted once. If you dump them back into circulation, you might not like the outcome, and you DEFINITELY won’t be able to control it. Trust me. In fact...if you want to prove it, get one of those coins ready. An opportunity is storming our way.” He indicated with his eyes someone was approaching from behind me.

“There he is, officer! There’s the pervert who tackled me.” Oh boy, here we go. I begin packing up the coins into my bag before the old man stops me. The woman from before is indeed storming toward me, with an officer in tow.

“Can we help you, officer?” The old man says first. His calming energy dictates the entire beginning of the confrontation.

“Yes, it seems there was an altercation between this woman and this man earlier. She claims that he tackled her and tried to **** her in the flowerbed. I’d like to get his statement, and if you saw the incident, I would appreciate yours as well.”

“Certainly. Frank, why don’t you go first?”

I clear my throat. “Yeah, I was taking a walk before the rain started and this lady was walking down the hill. All of a sudden, someone called out that there was a runaway golf cart, and when I looked it was headed straight for us.” I pointed to the crashed golf cart. “She didn’t seem to notice; she had earbuds in, so I grabbed her and dove into the flowerbed. I guess she thought I had tried to **** her or something, but I promise I was just trying to get her out of harm’s way.”

“I see.” The officer replied, writing my story down in his notebook, while also eyeing the wreckage of the golf cart. “And you sir,” he says, turning to the gentleman, “did you see this?”

“Why, yes sir. I heard Frank here yell out, and looked up the hill in time to see him pull this young woman out of harm’s way. He actually saved my life as well. Had he not warned the area, that cart would have most certainly run me down as well. He then saved the driver’s life by performing CPR while I contacted EMT.” He embellished the story a bit. I only did two rounds of the CPR. That guy from before handled the rest.

“Wait...that was you? I heard that call on the radio.” The girl looks significantly more amenable now “You definitely saved that man. I just heard he’s going to be fine. Look, I cannot really stop you from pressing charges against him, ma’am,” The cop says, clearly on my side now, “But I really recommend you reconsider.”

Taking the opportunity to tie a bow on this, I add “I’m really sorry about how that all turned out, miss. I was just trying to make sure we got out okay.” I extend my hand, “I’m Frank.” I realize that’s the first time I’ve said my name today. How did the old man know it?

She follows suit, the wind completely out of her sails, “Janet. I guess you’re right, officer. Maybe I misread the situation.”

The old man nudges my left hand, the one with the bag of coins in it, and points with his eyebrows at Janet. Taking the hint, I take one out and come up with a bullshit story. “Hey, I know we got off on the wrong foot, so let me put a bow on this. This is my grandmother’s coin collection, I’d like you to have one.” Again, complete bullshit, but I’m trying to sound like a real softie here.

She grabs the coin, and freezes, staring directly at it. It could be my imagination, but that shininess from before seemed to disappear the moment it did.

“Well, with that settled, I’m off,” said the cop. “You all stay safe.” And he departs.

“I’ll be taking my leave as well. Frank, it was a pleasure to meet you. Let me give you a card for that gentleman I told you about. I think you might want to get in touch with him. Handing me a business card for “Jack -- The Dream. Las Vegas, NV” I had never heard of him. “You two have fun.”

“Wait… I didn’t catch your name, sir.”

“No you didn’t, Frank. Enjoy the first coin you spent, my friend. I’ll be in touch.” He put his hat on and began wandering away, as unceremoniously as he came. I had the sinking feeling I had just started something that I couldn’t easily take back.

I turned back toward Janet. Something was different about her. “Frank…”